Silence. Such glorious silence in the air, even with the shit from earlier.

“So…” Caltrop spoke up.

I felt it as my eye twitched from his voice. I’m not sure why I’d expected the silence to last. Just another day in the rest of my life I guess. Slowing down, I hopped off the mountain trail and slid the last few feet down to the soft dirt. The prison loomed next to us, and the courtyard seemed just as lazy as when we had left it. One of the slaves ran inside when she saw us, but that was to be expected.

“Was there an end to that, or were you disrupting my relaxing walk for nothing?” I groaned and looked back at him. My eyes swung down to Sandy, who looked disheartened at my tone. Rolling my eyes, I looked to Caltrop. “Sorry, but was something on your mind?” That got Sandy to smile and give a nod of approval. I hated that she could get under my skin like that.

“What the hell was up with ya grandma's eyes?” He reached up and scratched at his mane slowly. “Changing color an shit? That ain't weird ta ya at all?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I stopped and turned to him. “They've always been blue.”

“Boss, her eyes are green. Only when she yelled at ya did they turn blue.” He put his hoof under his chin and scrunched up his muzzle. “Ya really didn’t notice?”

“Maybe it was just the light or something.” I sat on my haunches as wiggled my hooves at him. “Or, maybe... you've been the crazy one all along!” My ridiculousness roused a giggle fit of laughter from Sandy, and a stinkeye from Caltrop. “Either way, they've always been blue.”

“Wait!” Sandy yipped out between giggles. “But I saw it happen as well!” She put a paw on her chest and tried to control her breathing. “Oh! Some of the older dogs were colorblind! Maybe you are too!”

“Sandy, unless you're green, I know what blue looks like.” I shrugged and turned back around. Walking again, I spoke to them from over my shoulder. “Besides, so what if they did. My Grandma’s weird. She’s over sixty, but doesn’t look a day over forty. She’s sneaky as all hell, she knows when ponies are looking at her, and above that she’s a goddess damned hero in Baltimare. I don’t even know why that is! No pony there will tell me!”

Following the edge of the fence, we curved around it toward the prison’s entrance. Two zebra slaves stood at the door, each one with a shotgun in hoof. The way that they looked at us approach, I didn’t trust them. I stopped and held up my hoof.

“You two, stay here.” I spoke softly. “Something feels off, and I don’t like it.”

“Ok, Boss.” Caltrop simply replied.

Slowly, I made my way up toward the prison doors. The guards eyed me with a pair of almost matching snarls. I tried to not think about it, but deep down it was bugging me. These slaves only managed to be released because of me. They should be thanking me for what I fucking did. Angrily, I pushed the doors open and trotted down the hallway. As I turned to corner, I was stopped by a fairly large looking stallion.

“Gin know’s why you’ve come.” He spoke in a stern tone, and I didn’t care to even meet his gaze. Seeing the grimace he wore on his muzzle was enough for me. “I will take you if you would follow me.” Turning, he hadn’t waited for a response. I followed, just wanting to get this over with and get the fuck out of here.

He lead me down the hall toward the cafeteria. As we approached, the double doors swung open and before me, sitting on a stack of tables, was a middle aged Zebra. He looked like he had been declared king, and that his steel throne of tables was his and his alone. If he had already set up some sort of hierarchy amongst the slaves, I’d had to give him credit. Once I stepped through the doors, something told me that he had been meant to keep my attention.

My vision knocked down as my head exploded into pain. I cried out and tried to run, but a great weight on my back prevented me from doing so. Looking up again, I saw the Zebra smile just before I collapsed to the ground. Looking to my left and my right, six ponies had me pinned to the floor.

“What the fuck is this!” I shouted up. “I helped you all, and this is how you treat me?”

“No, the Storm mare helped us.” The ‘king’ finally spoke. Slowly, he made his way down from the tables. “You are an outlaw now, Miss Cap, a piece of misplaced property like the rest of us. Do you not see the Irony imposed by your situation?”

“I am no ponies property, never have been, never will be.” I growled back. That knock to my horn made my head pound harder every time I tried to focus. “And if you want to keep that tongue of yours, I suggest never calling me as such again.”

He smiled a deranged smile. “Or you will do what? Kill us?” Letting out a deranged laugh, quite a few of the others in the room joined him. I took the moment to try to wiggle free, but it was no use. “No, I think not. Do you know why it is that I know of you?”

“Enlighten me why I should care.” I took a deep breath and relaxed. Focus doesn’t come easy unless I can just relax.

“Because when they took my family from our village, we had a hard time adjusting to the life servitude. My wife insisted that I find a way to take our son and run. I insisted against it, but her foalish words filled my son's head with ideas. And so he ran.” He hopped down to the floor and stepped up to me. Slowly, he reached out and cupped my chin, pulling my muzzle up to his glare. “A year I spent, trading favors to learn of where he went. To know what he did with his freedom. As a reward for my efforts, I was told that the six-gun mare had hunted him down, and murdered him.”

“The asshole made the mistake of running.” I snapped, smirking. Given the chance, until he tried to kill me, I wasn’t going to shoot this bastard. Storm would beat me if I did, but she never said I couldn’t provoke him.

“You are right. It was his mistake, and that is the only reason you aren't dead, Miss Cap.” He sighed and sat down in front of me. “Would you like to hear another story? I promise that you will like this one. It is somewhat relatable to all this.”

“I'd rather see you choke on your own blood.” I groaned.

“Let me start with a question. Does it hurt, Miss Cap? Knowing you'll never see the heavens above the clouds?” He canted his head and frowned. “Only one Zebra did not know this pain. Long ago he lived, much before even your kind settled these lands. He vowed to the stars that he would find a way to touch them, even if it killed him.” He paused and poked his hoof at me. “Do you know what he did?”

“He probably didn't bore me to death with stupid stories.” I rolled my eyes and tried to focus on #1. My magic unsnapped the holster, but somepony holding me kept the gun from sliding out. I’m pretty sure I know why he had six ponies holding me now.

“He grew wings, Miss Cap. His will to reach the stars was so great, that feathered wings sprouted from his back. The summer's thanksgiving festival in his village took it as a sign of divinity. Overcome with joy, he raced up into the sky to meet the stars he loved so much.” He stood up and held his forelegs out, flapping them like a moron. “But the sun, he saw this gift for the perversion it was. Out of spite, the sun turned his wings to ash, and the young stallion fell back to the ground where he belonged.” He spun and sank back to a seated position.

This was becoming torture. “Was there a point to all this?” I huffed. Trying to get the jump on them, I struggled and grabbed for any of my guns. They were all too well placed, and I ended up just wasting my time again.

“I see you aren't as perceptive as I'd been told.” He snorted and gave a wave of his hoof. The ponies on my back started to wiggle their hooves under me. I wasn’t sure what they were doing, but when part of my harness unsnapped, I knew I had to get out of here. Using all my strength, I managed to rise up a few inches. That was, until the big guy who I’d followed in came over and pressed the barrel of a pistol into the side of my head. The rest of my harness unsnapped and was dragged off of me. I had been disarmed.

“Ahem.” The zebra spoke up, getting my attention again. “In our culture, we have a name for those whose ambitions outpace their actions. Ekarus, the stallion who fell.” Giving another wave of his hoof, two of the bigger looking ponies hooked their legs under mine and started to drag me off. No matter how I struggled, their grip was absolute. “Farewell, my Ekarus. You should pray that we shall not meet again.”

“You son of a bitch!” I snapped and kicked the whole way down the hall. “One of these days, I'll fucking kill you. You hear me!” The doors to the cafeteria were shut and I was dragged back towards the entrance. I let loose a roar of frustration and heard the doors behind me open.

“Hey! Let her go!” Sandy growled out. The two ponies holding me did just that. Quickly, they backed away as Sandy ran up, holding her claws out. Even the two guards whined and retreated back inside, shutting the doors with a heavy slam.

“Boss, what happened in there!” Caltrop shouted as he trotted over. He tried to help me up, but I shook him off me.

“It doesn’t matter.” Shaking myself off, I turned north and started to trot. “We’re getting the hell away from this place before everyone inside regrets it.” There was nothing I could do about my guns now. "Sandy, can you cut down one of those fence posts for me? And maybe some of that razor wire as well?" I plan on making good on my threat eventually, but it was too risky now.

Going back in there would just get me killed. Unfortunately, the walk from here to up north was a long one, and I needed any weapon I could get. As clumsy as it's going to be, as a razor wire club was still better than nothing.

“So, what was it like?” Caltrop had a bounce in his step. He and Sandy had been chit chatting non-stop from the prison, and I’d slipped behind in our walk. For once, listening to them was fine. It kept my mind off of worrying about my mother. Letting out a yawn, I’d found it also helped keep me off how exhausted I was.

“Living in the den wasn’t too fun, but I did like how close we all were.” Sandy yipped. “The older dogs were always digging and collecting gems, and the few pups who could help did.”

“Did ya like ta collect gems?” Caltrop asked. “Sounds kinda borin ta me.”

“I…” Sandy’s smile dropped, and she kicked a loose pebble along the ground. “I wasn’t allowed to help.”

“Well dat’s stupid.” He spat out. “I bet ya would have found the biggest gems of them all!”

He words brought a smile back to her muzzle again, as if suddenly all was right in the world again. Friendship still didn’t make sense to me, at least, not in any meaningful way. I still didn’t know why anyone would outright seek it. Maybe it’s not friendship you want.

That thought jarred my mind and brought the rest of me to a grinding halt. Including the part that knew that stopping your stride halfway through ment gravity and momentum took over. I got out a half garbled curse before I found myself face down in the dirt. With a light sigh, I decided that it was time for a rest. My hooves felt like lead weights, and I was thirstier than I’ve ever been.

“Can’t I just catch one break.” I’d asked to the clouded sky. No guns, no home, and no hopes of getting either of those back anytime soon. Worst of all, if Storm isn’t fast enough…

“PC!” Caltrop cried out as he galloped back. “Are ya alright? Where are ya hurt?”

“Just my pride.” I grumbled out. “It’s the exhaustion getting to me. We haven’t had a break in what feels like years.” Climbing back onto my hooves, Caltrop gave me his shoulder to lean against. “Let’s just keep our eyes peeled for somewhere to lay low for a while.”

“What about there?” Sandy called out from up ahead.

My eyes followed to where she was pointing. A dark speck wavered along the horizon, awash in the midday heat radiating off the ground. Looking around, I didn’t see any other options anywhere. My instincts told me that we should keep going, and avoid it. You know what? Fuck that, my instincts have gotten me nothing but trouble. Besides, I wanted to rest somewhere nice.

“Yeah.” I nodded and stepped in time with Caltrop. “There looks fine.”

In dragging the barbed wire pipe along with us, I started to have to make focusing choices. I know it had been floating lower and lower in my magic, and when it scraped against a rock, I knew it was time to give it up. We were so close to whatever that thing was, I didn’t think we’d need it anyway.

One hoof in front of the other. Step by step, we trudged across the wasteland at what felt like a snails pace. For some reason as well, it was getting hotter. It’s hard to tell the seasons below the cloud cover, but it wasn’t supposed to be this hot. I started to have a bad feeling about it, and I lost myself in those thoughts.

What if somepony from the prison comes after us? I’m in no condition to fight, and as great as she is, Sandy is just a pup. I nudged my vision up to Caltrop, watching him as he kept his eyes pinned on our destination. Could he come through in a fight? He’s proven adaptable so far, even with me making things harder on him.

“Looks like a Cabin.” He spoke up.

Sure enough, it was a small cabin resting at the edge of what was once a lake. Now it was a wide bowl of dirt with a rotten dock sitting in it. The fenced yard of foals toys and a jungle gym at least told me that this place might have a good amount of supplies in it if it hasn’t been raided already. Which looked to have been the case, because the back front door was slightly open.

“Sandy, I want you to stay in the fenced yard until we’ve checked out the house.” I gave her a weak grin and pat her on the head softly. “Keep a look out for anypony, okay? If you see anypony, just yell and we’ll come to you.”

“Okay!” She smiled and wagged her tail before darting off towards the rusted jungle gym.

“Are ya alright, Boss?” Caltrop lowered his voice to a whisper. “I ain’t seen ya this bad before, even when I had ta run ya ta Novocain.”

“I’ll be fine, I just need to rest.” My voice probably carried more of my agitation than I should have let it, but I’m sure he understood. “Let’s search this place and see if it’s safe.”

With a nod, he carried us forward at a slow pace. Getting to the door, he opened it slowly. The door creaked loudly, and the sound sent a shiver up my spine. On the floor just inside the door were, as much as I could tell, four skeletal ponies. The fact that their bones were unbroken was a fairly good testament that nopony had been through here before. Carefully, Caltrop and I entered. The snap of dry bones under my hooves sent the fear of dehydration back through my mind. I’d hoped that my bones didn’t do that while I was still trying to use them.

Other than the kitchen, the main room consisted of two couches, an old busted up radio, and a large circular rug. Two separated bedrooms were viewable from where we were, and Caltrop knew that was where we should start looking. He kicked open the already ajar door to the first one, and walked me over to the mattress. With little more than a nudge, he pushed me over onto it.

Recovering from the flop, I glared at him. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Lay there while I search.” He snipped back, seemingly ignoring me to go about rifling through the wooden dresser against the far wall. “If I see ya get up, I’ll just push ya down again.” He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “Got dat?”

“I could shoot you for that.” I sighed out and lay back down. Now that I was here, I didn’t so much object to it. “I just… wish it wasn’t so hot.” I whined and lazily wiped at my brow. The sweat felt so damn good against my foreleg that I almost didn’t hear Caltrop.

“What did ya just say?” He shook his head and turned around.

About then, a weird rhythmic metal noise came from outside. Both Caltrop and I scrambled to get back out there to see what it was, but he wasn’t as tired as I was. He was up and out the front door by the time I’d made it out of the bedroom. By the time I got to the kitchen window to look out, he had returned at a leisurely pace. Outside, Sandy was bouncing on an old trampoline that had been in the yard. The two century old rusted springs were making the annoying sound.

“Sandy, get off that before you hurt yourself.” I shouted out the window to her. “Or, at least before you break it and then hurt yourself.”

“I'll be fine!” She shouted back amidst her panting, jumping higher with each bounce. “See! it's still strong! Strong spri…”

There was a ripping sound as she came down, and she let out a quick scream before disappearing from sight. The sound of shearing metal joined the now muffled whines as both Caltrop and I broke for the door.

“Sandy!” I shouted as we ran. Only silence followed as we both pushed ourselves to see what had happened. Caltrop flipped the rusted and ruined trampoline away, revealing a small circular hole in the dirt. A few metal ladder rungs ran along the inside, along with sheared metal and concrete marks running down into the darkness. “Sandy, are you okay? Please, answer me!”

Slowly, her voice drifted up to us. “Ow.” She whined softly. “I'm okay. I landed on a soft square... thing. It smells like mold.”

“A mattress? I wonder what dat's doing down a hole.” he scratched at his mane. “Or what a hole like this is doin here at all!”

“I know it's a longshot, and that they are hard to find, but maybe it's a stable?” I knew it was a wild guess. The last one that I’d heard had opened was this ‘Red Eye’ stallion’s. Before that, it had been ages to my knowledge. Still, underground mattress ment it could be one.

“Nah, I don't think so. The one I used ta live next ta was big enough it had ta be built inta a cliffside. Had a big gear door for an entrance an everythin!” Caltrop shrugged and paused. “Could be just a regular shelter. Seein as Sandy fell in by accident, chances are it ain’t been looted yet!”

He had a good point. “Right. If there is some good stuff in there, I say we cover the hole and stay here for the night.” I reached forward and felt my head drag me down. I’d have fallen in had Caltrop not been fast enough to grab me.

“Geez PC, ya burnin up.” He grunted out as he yanked me back. “I think ya might be sick or somethin. Maybe… ” Slowly, he wedged himself under me and hoisted me onto his back. “I think ya side’s infected. Hang on ta me tight an I’ll take ya down and make ya good as new! How does dat sound?”

Simply nodding, I hooked my forehooves around his neck. I was becoming more tired by the minute, and I felt my strength fading as he lowered us down. At some point during the climb, he said something to me, but I couldn’t really understand it. Only when my grip slipped did I think that just maybe I should have been trying harder to listen. It didn’t matter now as I fell into a dark and cold slumber.

“You can’t protect her forever you know.” Storm snapped at mom. I had been hiding in my room, afraid of Grandma. She’d come home covered in blood. Her friend had died in front of me on the table, and I was so afraid of the visceral and violent end that I’d run back to my room screaming.

“That may be, but she doesn’t need to see the trouble you bring back.” Mom yelled back at her. “Goddesses, Mom. What if he was still dangerous? You can’t keep bringing these ponies back because you feel sorry you shot them one too many times!”

“Hey, everypony deserves a second fucking chance.” Storm yelled back louder. “That’s kinda my fucking thing, you know? Or did you forget what I had to do to give you yours? Wiping that raiders den out nearly got me killed.”

“Well I’m sorry that I’m not perfect. That I couldn’t be who you wanted me to.” Mom screamed out. “I’ll just be your little disappointment forever. Lever Action, Storm’s greatest shame!” Mom ran crying down the hall and into her room, which started me crying as well.

Storm had left us that night. I wouldn’t see her again for another two years. That was to pick up the job in New Pegas, before I’d gotten my cutie mark. I never got why mom lost the drive to bounty hunt, even after I got old enough to take care of myself. Now it makes a little more sense. Like mother, like daughter I guess. Failures through and through in Storm’s eyes.

“Boss?” Caltrop’s voice drifted into my mind. It shattered my dream and jolted me back to life. Alarmed, I sat up and reached for my guns with my magic. Only to remember I no longer had them. Caltrop’s hooves stopped me from getting all the way up. “Woah there, take it easy.” He smiled softly. “The fever’s passed, but ya ain’t better yet.”

The slow strumming of guitar music came from a small radio across the room we were in. I took a moment to look around. It was a fairly small domed room, lit up with a single lightbulb that glowed dimly on the ceiling. This shelter had been completely untouched since the days of the war. Sandy sat at a small table, playing with a stuffed rabbit doll colored like the Ministry of Peace. Behind her was a shelf completely stocked with canned food of all sorts. I was in one of three beds, and the farthest one from me had an opened foot locker on it.

“How’s Sandy?” I spoke in a whisper, my parched throat screaming at me. As if he knew, Caltrop hoofed me a bottle of what looked to be clean water. I guzzled it down before he could tell me to take my time. “She’s not hurt, is she?”

“Nah, other than a few scrapes, she’s fine.” Caltrop took the bottle back and set it down. He looked around the shelter again. “If it weren’t for her, I don’t know what we would’a done.”

“Find anything good down here?” I was happy that we were alright, but there was one thing in particular that was on my mind.

“A couple of smutty magazines, a few bits…” He trailed off and stared at the table Sandy was at. Propped up against it was a small, black lever action rifle. “Dat was about the most dissapointin thing though.” He caught my confused look and chuckled. “It’s a damn toy BB gun. Sandy asked if she could keep it and I said sure.”

I laid back down, feeling a sharp pain jab at my side. I gasped out and writhed for a moment, throwing back the blanket I’d been under to see a cloth bandage around my side.

“Oh yeah, they had a stocked med kit here as well. Used both potions ta heal ya side… mostly.”

“Both? For just a small cut?” I grunted as I tried to lay back down. Having spent however long sleeping, you’d think I’d be able to get comfortable again.

“Well, I forgot ta clean the dirt out of it. I’d remembered after it closed it up, and well I kinda had ta… cut ya back open.” He gave me a nervous shrug. “Good thing they had two potions in the kit, right! Too bad it wasn’t enough ta stop the soreness.” Laughing out louder, he took a step back as I raised my hoof.

“You may be a dolt, but I owe you. Much more than I could ever pay back.” I pat him on the shoulder. “Thank you.” Sighing, I finally found a nice and comfortable position to lay in. “Now get some rest. As soon as we are ready, I want to continue north. We need to get as far as we can from those asshole’s at the prison.”

“Uh, you’ve been sick for almost a day. The prison ain’t a problem anymore…” He smiled brightly. “The radio said dat Red Eye’s ponies went in and killed everypony! Those jerks got what they deserved.”

“Yeah…” I forced a smile. “Great.”

Even if that zebra douchebag got what he deserved, two things were still true. The first was that the other slaves there didn’t deserve that. Most of them were too weak to move out yet, let alone defend themselves. Hell, the unicorn who healed me there, she had just wanted to help.

As sad as that was, the second truth was the more painful of the two. For all the bullshit he spout, he was right. Both he and Storm saw the flaws in me, that I let my hubris and ambitions get in the way of living. There will come a day where I hope to be even a fraction as skilled as I’d once claimed I was, but it is not today, nor tomorrow.

No. For me, it’s back to square one.

Author's Notes:

Thanks to Kkat, Somber, Mimezinga, No_One, Stonershy, Hetnu, Xjuan, Relyet, and a TON of others who would take far too long to name. Without these author's stories to inspire me, there's no way I could bring you all my own.